C
oming of Age takes its name from the dynamic song from Harbour of Tears, its form from the earlier Never Let Go. A double-disc live set, this features old favorites in almost-chronological order on the front end, and a complete replication of the original Harbour on the back end. As with Never Let Go (which chronicled Dust And Dreams on the second disc), Coming of Age provides a backstory (disc one) that leads up to their current opus quite nicely. (I hate using the word “quite,” by the way.) The live versions are eerily similar to the originals, though again Andy Latimer’s voice on stage is in an even more precarious state than in the studio. It’s the guitar passages, the flutes, those familiar keyboard patterns and dream-inducing rhythms where Camel soars. Tracks from Moonmadness, I Can See Your House From Here, The Single Factor and entire sections of The Snow Goose and Nude whet the appetites of this lucky Los Angeles audience. In the year since Harbour of Tears was released, Camel had acquired a new drummer (Dave Stewart) and keyboardist (Foss Patterson) but audibly little had changed. Patterson gets right into the thick of things with “Lunar Sea” and never looks back. Harbour of Tears is rendered nearly perfect, though I’d recommend the studio version since it captures the quiet melancholy of the story better. Over the years, a number of critics have cited Harbour of Tears as one of their favorite Camel efforts. I don’t share their enthusiasm but would never seek to dampen it, and can heartily endorse “Coming of Age” (the song) as one of Andy Latimer’s fiercest concoctions. This format that Camel has seemingly stumbled upon -- one disc of live oldies, one disc of the new work live and intact -- is one more labels should follow. I can’t think of a better format to introduce a new work, or a better way to hear a band like Camel live.